The television set has been telling me on an increasingly frantic basis that Christmas is coming. Yes, even though we’re still over a month away from the festivities, we’re being barraged with advertisements for candles that will magically decorate our house.

Unfortunately, the issue of “Christmas Creep” will be a topic covered in a future blog post — mainly because writing about Christmas Creep still constitutes writing about Christmas and frankly, I don’t want to be part of a phenomenon I despise.

No, a better topic for today is the issue of morality. Regular viewers of various holiday specials will recognize how I managed to jump from Christmas to talking about being good — after all, being good (or trying to) is really what Christmas is all about.

Honestly though, what’s so good about being good? Everyone seems to have this  preconceived notion that goodness and virtue will result in long-term rewards, but I’m not really seeing it.

Take a look at the major players in just about any industry. It’s often said that psychopaths normally have an easier rise to the top of a corporation, and a quick scan of the business practices and ethics of most CEOs would seem to support such a statement. Though he may not be the best example, Bernie Madoff managed to put together a disgusting amount of money mainly by being a scheming, duplicitous crook. The man didn’t care he was taking money from charities, or folks who had their entire savings sunk in with him.

And you know what? More power to him. Because after all, deep in the sub-cockles of their souls people are selfish. Think about it. If everyone was good, then life would be boring. We’d all be communists working towards a greater good and not worrying about self-advancement. Being selfish is what makes the world go around.

Maybe it’s a symptom of my religious beliefs, or rather a lack thereof. It’s kind of hard to understand why being good is so important when the reason most people point to is the afterlife. Maybe I’ll have a red gentleman with hoofs and horns toasting my buns over a fire for all eternity, but eternity is only a possibility — personal gain is immediate and much more rewarding.

And to those who point out that being good is good enough for itself, I’d say you’re being more of a hypocrite than the CEOs bilking people for millions. Isn’t a byproduct of performing a good action the good feelings and benefits you see as a result? Performing an evil act is just removing the middleman from performing a good act. As for the guilty feeling you get a long time after performing an “evil” act, well that’s just society doing its best to thwart your natural, human behaviour.

So let’s see people be a little more upfront with their intentions. Being good is boring – much better to make life interesting.

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